X-Men First Class
Just got back from seeing X-men First Class with the roommates. I went in thinking of the movie as an AU version of the Marvel universe so I was able to enjoy the way they repurposed existing characters instead of spending the whole movie going 'What happened to Moria's accent?!?!?!'
Thinks I liked:
The only 'good guy' character* they killed was the black guy. Seriously? Seriously?! The joke that the black guy is always the first to die in movies is old at this point - You would think that Hollywood would be past this by now.
*Yeah they killed Helpful CIA guy too, but I'm not even sure he had a name. Darwin in the comics has survived being thrown out an airlock into space for crying out loud. He should have been able to burp that energy marble right back out into Shaw's face.
Overall its was a surprisingly well done movie and quite enjoyable.
Thinks I liked:
- Young!Raven was adorable - giving kittens a run for their money adorable
- I liked that it was a period piece, the costumes, the newscasts, the furniture the whole 60s vibe worked really well, and the realization that the Holocaust was less then 20 years in the past which gave a chilling immediacy to the issues the characters where dealing with.
- Hank was adorkable- His budding romance with Raven was sweet, until it ended badly - I understand how he was feeling but I could have smacked him after what he said to Raven
- Erik and Charles were both acted very well and the actors pulled off the chemistry needed between the 2. Seriously, the slash so so obvious.
- Emma Frost- I wish she had had a bigger role, but she pulled of the essence of the character really well in the scenes she did have. I loved her outfits. Especially the short white dress with the lace/crochet overlay.
- Moria and her guns. Not sure if it was intended or not but to me it was a great homage to the scene in the comic where she runs into the broom closet/sudden armory grabs a machine gun and starts firing.
- The training montage. I though it was pretty well done and an interesting cinematographic twist on typical training montage.
- The sixties style end credits - I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the 60s world with the comic book super hero storyline. With all the other movies and such currently the super hero type stories have come to be associated with sleek, hi-tech style, the change was new and refreshing as well as referencing the X-Men's roots.
- "The Children of the Atom" reference, again a nice shout out to the roots of the X-Men comic.
- WOLVERINE I was thankfully spoiler free for this and oh my was it a nice surprise "Go fuck yourself" - pure awesome-
- They did a great job building suspense in several of the scenes. The attack on the CIA base was deliciously creepy
- I liked that the kids were kids, sure they have super powers but they had never used them in a combat setting before and were just as scared and unsure of what to do as normal teenagers would have been.
The only 'good guy' character* they killed was the black guy. Seriously? Seriously?! The joke that the black guy is always the first to die in movies is old at this point - You would think that Hollywood would be past this by now.
*Yeah they killed Helpful CIA guy too, but I'm not even sure he had a name. Darwin in the comics has survived being thrown out an airlock into space for crying out loud. He should have been able to burp that energy marble right back out into Shaw's face.
Overall its was a surprisingly well done movie and quite enjoyable.